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Tom O’NeillTechnology Department

March 13, 2013

Discussion Regarding the Discussion Regarding the Customer Service Call Customer Service Call

CenterCenter

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Customer Service Call CenterThe Past (through 2010)

• In-house Customer Call Center including Customer Relations

• 15 Total Employees (11 Clerks, 3 Sr. Clerks and 1 Supervisor)• Multi-lingual Staff included Chinese, Tagalog and

Spanish • TTY Service available for the hearing impaired• Average monthly call volume

– More than 35,000 calls offered– More than 25,000 answered (Mar thru Oct 2010) – High Abandoned rates (ranged from 25% in Apr, 2010 to high of 39%

in Sep, 2010)

• Average Call Length: 2 minutes, primarily due to well-trained,knowledgeable clerks - large majority of calls were ‘next bus’

• Annual cost > $1.2 million

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Customer Service Call CenterThe Present – Part 1

• Contracted Customer Call Center– Operated by American Customer Care (ACC); call center located in

Iowa; no other transit-related customers

• Calls handled by a ‘blended’ pool of agents with four “dedicated” staff who handle other calls between ACT calls

• Service for hearing impaired is provided• Translation services available March 2013• Hours of Operation

– Same as AC Transit’s former internal call center (7-7 weekdays, 9-5 weekends)

• Call Center responds to telephone trip planning and travel planning calls; and transcribes complaints, commendations and comments then routes to appropriate departments

• District staff investigates and responds to customers

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Customer Service Call CenterThe Present – Part 2

• The ACC call center’s performance continues to meet contract requirements

• Call statistics continue to improve in all areas– Monthly call volume averaging < 9,000 (2012)

• 9000 calls/month / 30 days/month = 300 calls/day or 27/hour on average• 84% are Trip Planning or “where’s my bus?” questions• 14% are Complaints/Commendations or other

– Low abandoned call rates < 3.8% (2012)

– Good average speed of answer at 20.6 seconds (July-Dec 2012)

– Average call length is 3.5 minutes (2012)

• Shorter than 2011 but still almost twice as long as in 2010

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Customer Service Call CenterThe Future – Part 1

• Three year contract with ACC expires in September 2013– Fixed cost is $20.4k monthly, $245k annually– Two one-year option years are available

• Bringing these jobs back to our Service Area’s economy makes sense– Local call center staff should be more familiar with local landmarks,

events and impacts on our system

• Call center to focus on travel information, trip planning, and logging customer complaints, comments & commendations

• Have staff dedicated to ACT but increase as needed based on monthly and seasonal norms

• Expand hours of operation to better match service peaks (e.g., start at 6 a.m. on weekdays instead of 7 a.m.)

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Customer Service Call CenterThe Future – Part 2

• In-house Customer Services team:– Add one-two internal staff to work with OCC and Transportation on

complaint & commendation investigations, responses to customers, and communication to Call Center of service delays & interruptions

– Provide feedback loop to Planning staff based on complaint patterns• Make customer service more effective and efficient in

keeping with the way people get their information today: – 511 IVR system (encourage MTC to add a multi-lingual capability)– Websites: actransit.org, NextBus.com and 511.org– 511 and other mobile apps, Twitter and other Social Media– Email lists via GovDelivery– Printed information for distribution– User information at bus stops and transit centers– Real-time information with respect to delays, cancellations &

detours via 511.org, NextBus, and more

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Customer Service Call CenterTrade Offs

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Customer Service Call CenterNext Steps

• Balance traditional and emerging information tools, expanding new technologies, especially mobile solutions

• Develop Request for Proposals for a call center located in the East Bay to answer rider information calls with multilingual capabilities– Staff report to Board March 27, 2013– RFP to be issued in April, 2013

• New/improved portal to include real time data so agents can provide immediate responses to some customers

• Formalize the Customer Relations capability including adopting and implementing standards for complaint resolution and response